Schatz Returns To Winning Ways

Donny Schatz finally has a victory at Canandaigua Speedway in New York.

He got it Monday when the World of Outlaws returned there for the first time since 1999.

Schatz lined up second and battled 20-time series champion Steve Kinser for each of the first nine laps of the race, before making the pass for the lead and ultimately the win on the high side of turn two in lapped traffic. From there he pulled away and wound up winning by nearly nine seconds aboard the Armor All J&J for Tony Stewart Racing.

“It was a great night,” said Schatz. “We had an awesome car and I’m glad to get another win. This is the stuff I love to see. I love to see it when it’s tough to get the tires caught up. My car worked good and it suited my driving style. I was patient and you also had to save your tires.”

Schatz finished third at the track in 1998 and second in 1999 and bettered that one spot on Memorial Day, in dominating fashion to score his first victory at the half-mile known as the “Land of Legends.”

For Schatz, the $10,000 triumph was his sixth career win in the state of New York with the World of Outlaws and the 94th of his career as he closes in on becoming just the fifth driver in the 31-year history of the series to win at least 100 A-Feature events.

“New York has been very good to me in my career,” shared the three-time and defending series champion. “I have won at Lebanon Valley (Speedway), Rolling Wheels (Raceway Park) and Orange County (Speedway) as well. We enjoy coming up here and don’t get to come up here very often. The fans are always great and it’s awesome to come to these events. The pit area was packed here tonight.”

The 25-lap event, which ran non-stop in just 8 minutes and 2 seconds, began with Steve Kinser leading from the pole. Schatz nearly inched past him in turn three on the opening circuit, with Kinser charging off turn four to stay in front and officially lead the first lap. On the second lap, Schatz looked low off turn four, but was not able to make a pass.

Kinser and Schatz pulled away from the field by the third lap, with Kinser running up top and Schatz trying the lower groove. By the fifth lap, the duo was in traffic on Schatz closed back in on Kinser. On the sixth go-around, Schatz nearly took the lead off turns three and four, with Kinser fending him off down the front straightaway. The battle continued for the next couple of laps, with Schatz looking under Kinser in turns three and four and the pair running side-by-side, with Kinser retaining the top spot.

Schatz moved to the high side of the half-mile on the ninth lap and in traffic took the lead in turn two from Kinser. He quickly began to pull away as he continued to work his way through traffic.

“I kind of had to wait for my car to come in a bit and I had to search around on the race track,” he noted. “Second-place was a good place to be when I figured out where it was at. It was go from there. It was a great race.”

As the laps wound down, Schatz continued to work lapped traffic and at the same time widened the gap between himself and Kinser. The North Dakota native would lead a total of 17 laps en route to picking up his sixth win of the season, all of which have come on half-mile tracks.

“I got a little bit too cautious when I started lapping those guys,” he explained. “I took a win away from myself at Charlotte the other night being too aggressive in lapped traffic. I didn’t want to get too aggressive. Tonight was one of those nights where I probably slowed down too much and let my tires cool off and didn’t need that. It was good enough for a win. We always strive to make our car better and these guys are awesome that work on this thing and make it pretty fun to drive for me.”

Kinser wound up second in the Quaker State Maxim after leading the first eight laps of the 25-lap contest. After turning in the fifth fastest lap in time trials to begin the night and racing his way into the dash with a second-place heat race finish, he came all the way from sixth to win the dash with a last lap pass of Schatz, to earn the pole for the main event.

Danny Lasoski, the 2001 World of Outlaws champion, finished third in the Casey’s General Store JEI to pick up his ninth Top-Five finish of the season. He began the night by turning the second fastest-lap in time trials.

“We started third and ended up third,” said Lasoski. “We were basically a third-place car all night long. I got to see a good race between ‘The King’ (Steve Kinser) and (Donny) Schatz. They put on a good show. This was a brand new JEI we tried tonight and we are trying to narrow the gap. We dug ourselves a hole in Florida and we are trying to come back. We have been pretty consistent and I think we are getting better and better each week.”

Jason Sides, who set fast time, ended up fourth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim to earn his 14th Top-10 finish of the season.

Joey Saldana, who won the first two events of the Memorial Day weekend, wrapped up the three-race stretch with a fifth-place effort in the Budweiser Maxim.

Jessica Zemken picked the best finish of her career with the World of Outlaws, coming home sixth, after winning the second heat and finishing fourth in the Crane Cams Dash.